Poetry Friday + “Voices”– New Zine + Adrienne Rich

21st Centurey Technology 3-2017 for Poetry Friday blog

The poem above and the spread below are both included in my New Zine: Voices, words & art, and is now available in my Etsy shop. The zine has 13 numbered pages plus the cover, and you can look for it in my books & catalogues section. A portion of the funds raised via the sales of this issue and future zines will be donated to Planned Parenthood. This first issue focuses on poetry (and art) I created from the online Facebook group, The 5th Annual February Daily Poem; started by the author and poet Laura Shovan. In our group poets were given the challenge of creating a daily poem taken from a current news article, and using 10 specific words incorporated into their poem.

 

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For the month of March I am also featuring Women Poets, for Poetry Friday. I wanted to tie my poem to another political poem. The poem I’m sharing is by Adrienne Rich. You can read the rest of her poem at the poetry foundation.

What Kind of Times Are These

BY ADRIENNE RICH

There’s a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill
and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows
near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted
who disappeared into those shadows.
I’ve walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don’t be fooled
this isn’t a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here,
our country moving closer to its own truth and dread,
its own ways of making people disappear.
I won’t tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woods
meeting the unmarked strip of light—
ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise:
I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear.
For more Poetry Friday poems visit: Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge.

About Michelle Kogan Art, Illustration, & Writing

Michelle Kogan is an artist, illustrator, instructor, and writer, creating colorful allegorical figure, flora and fauna paintings and children's illustrations, which have a sensitivity to endangered species, and the environment. She is an art instructor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Evanston Art Center and offers Plein Air Painting Workshops at nature venues in the Chicago area including the Lincoln Park Conservatory, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, and Lurie Gardens at Millennium Park. Visit her online Etsy Shop at: http://www.MichelleKoganFineArt.etsy.com and her website: http://www.michellekogan.com
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14 Responses to Poetry Friday + “Voices”– New Zine + Adrienne Rich

  1. jama says:

    Great idea to put together a zine, Michelle. Thanks for sharing these two poems which speak to current concerns.

  2. With each new news bulletin my heart hurts more and my brain spins faster. What on Earth is going on? I love your zine and its support of Planned Parenthood, an organization that is becoming more and more vital, just as it is coming under greater and greater threat.

  3. lindabaie says:

    Your zine sounds grand, Michelle. I was browsing the poems I wrote with all of you in Feb. & am surprised at how many leaned on the politics, and if I was still writing one each day, I guess it might be the same! “this is not somewhere else but here” says a lot! Thanks!

    • Thanks Linda! Yes, that line captured an earlier time and unfortunately we are experiencing the events again! I’ve written poems before on beauty, but would like to write another one, I can’t understand how this administration wants to pull the rug out entirely from the NEA, I guess they can’t see the benefits the arts bring to all branches of life.

  4. Great work capturing your poetry and art in a new zine! I love that you are sharing the proceeds with Planned Parenthood–what an inspiration to take action with the gifts you have.

  5. A zine! What a great idea. And, keep caring, keep expressing, keep shouting from the rooftops. Art may be the only way to do these things.

  6. Congrats on the Zine, I love that you can combine your art and words with such panache.

  7. Thanks Brenda, and that’s such a fun word “panache!”

  8. Thanks for responding to the current insanities with poetry and art, Michelle, and for sharing here. Amazing how timely that Adrienne Rich poem is, too…. Sigh.

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